Professional Wrestling Studies Association
Studying the Past, Present, and Future of Professional Wrestling
We are on the road to WWE’s Survivor Series and AEW’s Full Gear, which means that 2020 is nearly drawing to a close. With Hell in a Cell now in the rearview, I’ll be taking a look at the epic meeting between forever rivals Bayley and Sasha Banks, as well as where the rest of … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Poetry in Motion (October 28, 2020)
Fall is finally here, friends! And with the withering of the leaves outside also comes the winding down of the wrestling calendar year of 2020. I can’t believe we’re entering the final quarter of this black hole of a year. Are we heading toward going out with a bang, or a quiet sizzle for the … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Wild Women (September 30, 2020)
The summer is drawing to a close in this marathon of a year. And as far as wrestling is concerned, there’s been plenty of heat in and out of the ring in both WWE and AEW. For the women, there have been some definite highs, but mentally I’m drawn more to the bad stuff, unfortunately. … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Discombobulated (September 16, 2020)
Disheartened, exhausted, hopeful. These are just a handful of the emotions that I’ve felt in the last three weeks of American life. I, like Black folks everywhere in this nation, had to search deep in my well of stamina to both process the violence hurled at Us and protesters, as well as find resilience to … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Meritocracy Is A Lie (June 10, 2020)
The oddest WrestleMania in history has come and gone, folks. And well, with all due respect to AEW, I think the historic nature of WrestleMania this year requires me to focus on it exclusively this week. Still, I will give some general thoughts on AEW at the end of this post. All in all, I … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: The Business of Wrestling (WrestleMania Review, 2020)
Happy 2020 wrestling fans! It’s good to be back here with you all, hashing out what we love (and hate) about women’s wrestling in WWE and AEW. We have a lot of ground to cover so far this year, starting with the Royal Rumble and its aftermath. Because I see the new year as a … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Go Fix Your Braid (February 12, 2020)
As we close out 2019 (and more generally, the decade), it is time now to look back and consider the short- and long-term implications of the year’s events on women’s wrestling as an entity. Did it evolve? Did it shake the proverbial table of the wrestling world? I’m not so sure. As with any roller-coaster, … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Slow Burn (Year in Review, 2019)
Ho Ho Ho and so forth! We are a fortnight away from a new decade and closing yet another chapter to women’s wrestling history. But before we look back fondly (or otherwise) on the year that was, let’s take one more dive into the weekly happenings of WWE, NXT, and AEW for the women. Because … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Guns and Glitter (December 19, 2019)
It’s time to lay it out, friends. This week, we’re taking a step back for once to consider the women’s and larger wrestling scenes at large. Because it would be nearly impossible not to in my opinion, we’ll unpack the implications of AEW as a startup company — what the brand’s existence may mean for … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: Cards on the Table (June 3, 2019)
Greetings good wrestling fans. I hope the weather has started to warm up wherever you may be! In the post-Superstar Shakeup world of WWE, things in many ways are heating up. But, for some female Superstars, things are….well, a prolonged winter in May, to say the least. Unlike most weeks, we’ll discuss how the Good, … Read more Nylons and Midriffs: The More Things Change…. (May 7, 2019)